“No Grounds”: Norway Again Disarms Its Officers

Norway’s 6,000 uniformed police will once again be disarmed. The Police Directorate initially announced plans to end the armament in November 2015, but it was extended following the Paris terror attacks. The new directive by Odd Reidar Humlegard calls for immediate disarmament: “there are no longer grounds to continue.”

Norway—like Britain, Iceland, Ireland and New Zealand—all follow a no-firearms policy that only allows for police officers to be equipped with guns under special circumstances. The police are trained on how to use firearms in emergency situations, but they are kept locked up in patrol vehicles rather than carried on their person.

In 2014, after Norway’s intelligence service PST raised the threat level due to potential Islamist terror attacks, officers were armed at all times. With the threat level now lowered, the country has reverted back to opening itself up to attack with no expedient means of protecting the citizenry.

Washington, D.C., Proposes Paying People To Obey The Law

With homicides in the nation’s capital up 54 percent last year, the D.C. City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to pass a bill that would pay “at risk” residents not to commit crimes, the Associated Press reports.

Under the legislation, up to 200 people per year would be assigned to undergo behavioral therapy and other programs, and upon completion, if they don’t engage in criminal behavior, they would be paid. A similar program in Richmond, Calif.—upon which the D.C. scheme is modeled—pays participants up to $9,000 per year. According to D.C.’s independent chief financial officer, together with the bill’s other provisions, the program would cost $25.6 million over four years.

With that kind of price tag, we can’t help but wonder whether the money would be better spent arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating armed, violent criminals rather than bribing people to obey the law. After all, what happens after the cookie jar runs dry?

New VT Bill Would Put Insurance Companies In Your Gun Cabinet

Vermont is one of the most gun-friendly states in the country, but that doesn’t make the state’s anti-gun legislators any less determined. Case in point: H.709, a bill that would require residents to notify their homeowners insurance company if they own a gun.

One of the bill’s sponsors, Democratic Rep. Thomas Stevens, hopes the measure will decrease gun ownership. “I believe it can be a free market answer to an important gun safety issue—let the insurance companies and banks decide what risks they need to consider when making mortgages and homeowners insurance."

H.709 is currently in “short form,” and doesn’t say specifically what the bill would and wouldn’t do. Aside from the potential financial deterrent to gun ownership, some worry that the bill could be a backdoor registration scheme if the government requires insurance companies to submit proof of compliance.

H.709 will be heard by the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development Friday.

North Carolina Would-Be Terrorist Faces Murder Charge

The Morganton, N.C., teenager charged last June with plotting to kill up to 1,000 people to show his support for the Islamic terrorist group ISIS has now been charged with robbing and murdering an elderly neighbor to finance his jihad, the Charlotte Observerreports.

A newly unsealed federal indictment alleges that 19-year-old Justin Sullivan, who called himself “The Mujahid,” stole his stepfather’s rifle, broke into the home of 74-year-old neighbor John Bailey Clark in December 2014, shot him three times in the head, and planned to use $689 that he stole from the man to buy a semi-automatic rifle with which to carry out his planned terrorist mass murder. Clark was found in a shallow grave nearby.

In addition to Sullivan, at least 55 other U.S. citizens have been charged with crimes related to ISIS, according to “ISIS in America,” a report released by George Washington University last December. Such figures call into question claims by anti-gunners that private citizens don’t need guns to protect against extremist terrorists.

America Turning Red As Election Approaches

What a difference seven years make. Thirty-five states were solidly Democratic or left-leaning when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008. Now, for the first time in eight years, the number of Republican or Republican-leaning states outnumber Democrat or Democrat-leaning ones, according to new analysis by Gallup.

Overall in 2015, there were 20 states that were solidly Republican or that leaned Republican, compared to 14 states that were solidly Democrat or leaned Democrat, the poll, released Wednesday, reported.

Wyoming was rated as the “most Republican” state, with 60 percent of Wyoming adults identifying as Republican or leaning Republican—and only 28 percent identifying as Democrats or leaning Democrat. Meanwhile, Hawaii and Vermont were the most Democrat states, with Democrat advantages of more than 20 points. Sixteen states are now classified as “competitive.”

Armed 92-Year-Old WWII Vet Fights Off Ax-Wielding Intruder

Some have called firearm ownership “the great equalizer”—putting the elderly and weak on the same footing with young, strong criminals—and Friday’s break-in at a San Jacinto, Calif., home makes that case very well.

When a man with an ax tried to break into the home of 92-year-old WWII veteran Joseph Milspaugh’s home, the senior citizen didn’t think twice about what to do. When the intruder smashed the front door with his ax and tried to enter the house, Milspaugh grabbed his handgun and fired one round at the criminal.

The suspect fled, leaving his ax behind. “I could have shot him straight in the head, right between the eyes, but I didn’t want to do that because I’d have been in trouble,” Milspaugh later told NBC Los Angeles.